Mapping circuits

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10055515-B2
Application number	US-201514596686-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2015
Priority date	May 16, 2008
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

A probe is adapted to send a signal over a selected circuit and to provide circuit information. One or more modules have a connector for electrically connecting to an outlet, logic interconnected with the connector for detecting the signal and receiving the circuit information, and an indicator interconnected with the logic for presenting the circuit information in response to the signal. A computer is operably associated with the probe and configured to execute a program of instructions to provide a breaker box representation and an electronic record of one or more rooms showing outlet symbols that identify the location of outlets. The computer is configured to execute the program of instructions to collect the circuit information from the one or more modules and to associate the circuit information with a corresponding breaker on the breaker box representation and on outlet symbols on the electronic record of one or more rooms.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a probe adapted to send a signal from a circuit breaker over an electrical circuit to one or more outlets and to provide circuit identification information within the signal;
one or more modules each comprising a connector that electrically connects to an outlet, logic interconnected with the connector that detects the signal and receives the circuit identification information, and an indicator interconnected with the logic that presents the circuit identification information in response to the signal; and
a computer operably associated with the probe and configured to execute a program of instructions that (i) provides a breaker box representation and an electronic record of one or more rooms that shows outlet symbols and identifies locations of outlets and that (ii) collects the circuit identification information from the one or more modules and associates the circuit identification information with a corresponding breaker on the breaker box representation and on the outlet symbols on the electronic record of the one or more rooms.

2. The system of claim 1 , where the one or more modules further collect data for one or more electrical parameters for the respective outlet and the program of instructions collects the data from the one or more modules.

3. The system of claim 1 , where the probe comprises a receiver operably associated with the computer, where the program of instructions collects the circuit identification information using the receiver.

4. The system of claim 3 , where the receiver is a radio frequency (RF) receiver and the indicator in the one or more modules comprises an RF transmitter.

5. The system of claim 4 , where:
the one or more modules each comprise a global positioning system (GPS) module; and
the program of instructions further collects, from each of the one or more modules using the RF receiver, a unique module identification and a GPS location transmitted by the respective module.

6. The system of claim 3 , where the receiver is a bar code scanner and the indicator in the one or more modules comprises a display displaying the circuit identification information as a bar code.

7. The system of claim 3 , where the receiver is integral to the probe.

8. The system of claim 1 , where the program of instructions comprises a first routine for creating the representation of the breaker box.

9. The system of claim 1 , where the program of instructions comprises a second routine for inserting the outlet symbols on the electronic record of the one or more rooms.

10. The system of claim 1 , where the program of instructions comprises a third routine for collecting data from the one or more modules and inserting the data on the electronic record of the one or more rooms.

11. The system of claim 1 , where the circuit identification information comprises a circuit number that represents the electrical circuit uniquely among a plurality of electrical circuits.

12. The system of claim 1 , where the probe is adapted to propagate a generic signal accompanied by the signal, and wherein the generic signal causes the one or more modules to store a time stamp.

13. The system of claim 1 , where:
the indicator comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) that each correspond to one of a plurality of electrical circuits; and
in presenting the circuit identification information, the indicator illuminates an LED corresponding to the electrical circuit and the signal.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Calcaterra Jeffrey A
• Gutierrez-Rivas Humberto
• Miller Steven M

Classifications

• G01R31/69 Primary

  of terminals at the end of a cable or a wire harness; of plugs; of sockets, e.g. wall sockets or power sockets in appliances · CPC title

• G01R19/2513

  Arrangements for monitoring electric power systems, e.g. power lines or loads; Logging · CPC title

• G06F30/13 Primary

  Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads · CPC title

• G01R31/045

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/5004 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic